law enforcement

The fatal shooting of a suspect by a volunteer deputy in Tulsa, Okla., raises the question that some have already been asking: Why are nonprofessionals allowed to wear badges and carry guns?

Courts have ruled that civilians have a constitutional right to videotape police encounters in public. But civilians are not allowed to interfere with police activity.

Police today are identifying fewer murder suspects than they did a generation ago. One criminologist says that may be because departments are more focused on preventing crimes than on making arrests.

The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing also emphasized the need for better training and equipment, including bulletproof vests. But it stopped short of insisting police wear body cameras.

It's hard to know when to take violent language seriously online. But when Jonathan Hutson saw an anonymous threat to an unnamed school on Twitter, he couldn't let it go.

In Akron, Ohio, some students made a reference card designed to improve relations between the community and police. It offers tips on how to behave — and how to report police misconduct.

In a speech last week, FBI Director James Comey addressed racial tensions between police and minorities. A new effort in his hometown of Yonkers, N.Y., tries to get officers and young people talking.